Wolds Way Day 1: Hessle to Rudstone Walk

We are relaxing in our very comfortable B & B at Rudstone Walk, north of South Cave, awaiting dinner, after our first day on the Wolds Way.

We set out from Hessle early doors walking alongside the mighty River Humber, empty of shipping but with curlews and gulls and a buzzard to enjoy. At North Ferriby we turned north and then west towards the pretty village of Welton where we paused awhile on a bench to carb up and enjoy the pretty Norman St Helen's Church with its tinkling rill, tiny stone bridge and row of sleepy ducks.

From Welton it was through the picturesque Welton Dale with our first real Wolds grassy valley and abundant wildflowers. These valleys between the undulating hills must have excellent micro climates for plants and probably pretty good for animals too.

Once out of the head of the dale we were in to farmland and fields of barley, some full of glorious poppies. We turned west again at Turtle Hill and headed down the steep hill to take a short detour in to Brantingham Village which seemed to be very much a mix of the old and the new. In the centre of the village was an old water spout, very handy as a stopping place for lunch.

From the village it was through Brantingham Dale, by another very fine church and then we wended and wove our way through Wolds hills proper. There were a couple of navigation issues when the footpath suddenly arrived at Private signs so a bit of scouting had to be done to locate the way and then we were out on to the very busy B1230 and a third of a mile dicing with traffic till we arrived here! A good first day of our walking holiday, if quite tiring. I think the spiky ball may be put to work this evening!